MILWAUKEE - This past weekend in Washington, Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell mused that his starters had handled themselves relatively well with the exception of a bad pitch here and there.

And by bad, he meant the very worst.

After a few days removed from that theory, it returned Monday night when Braves right-hander Kyle Davies squandered six brilliant innings with a single poor pitch to Milwaukee's Corey Koskie.

Koskie, mired in a horrendous power slump beforehand, launched a Davies fastball into the loge level in right field for a two-run homer that sent the Brewers to a 3-2 victory at an all-but-empty Miller Park.

Maybe the 11-0 rout here by Cincinnati on Sunday had something to do with it, but you'd think the sausage race would be worth that turnout of 11,660 fans alone.

The scattered Brewers fans in the house delighted in Koskie's home run considering the off-season acquisition from Toronto had no homers and no RBIs in his first 50 at-bats this season.

"I felt really good, pitched well early," said Davies, who looked as if he'd follow a complete-game three-hitter, the best start of his young career, with another gem. "That's the only pitch I feel like was not a very good pitch. And it got hit out of the ballpark in a big situation."

Davies (1-2) had given up just two hits until Koskie's homer and a single that preceded it by Brewers rookie first baseman Prince Fielder, who went 3-for-3 with three base hits.

Davies said he was still strong after 100-plus pitches heading into the seventh. The one fastball to Koskie simply missed its target.

"I feel like I'm throwing the ball just as good as I ever have," said the 22-year-old Davies, whose strikeout of Carlos Lee to end the sixth was his seventh of the night, one shy of his career high. Yeah, but ...

"It's still tough to take away a loss," Davies said. "I feel like I pitched pretty well, but I still lost the ball game."

With an equally hot starter, Chris Capuano, out of the game, Atlanta made some noise in the eighth thanks to some shaky Brewers defense that's been pretty typical to this point in the year for Milwaukee (10-9).

After a leadoff single by pinch hitter Pete Orr and a walk by Marcus Giles, Wilson Betemit reached on second baseman Rickie Weeks' second error of the game.

With the bases loaded, though, Brewers reliever Matt Wise got left fielder Matt Diaz to ground into a double play that scored Orr, but kept the Braves (9-10) from of a big inning. With the tying run on third, in Giles, Andruw Jones grounded out to third.

Brewers closer Derrick Turnbow mowed through the Braves in the ninth for his sixth save. He hasn't allowed an earned run this year in eight innings pitched.

Jones had a single in the first, but he hasn't recorded an extra-base hit since he hit his eighth home run in his final at-bat Wednesday in New York.

Even at that, though, Jones was one of only three Braves to get a hit off Capuano. Diaz singled in the first. Giles, who's been out since Wednesday with a finger injury, led off the third with a triple off the top of the wall in the deepest part of the park. He scored on a grounder by Diaz.

After Giles' triple, Capuano (3-2) held Atlanta hitless for the next five innings. At one point, he recorded eight outs on just 11 pitches.

The Brewers tied the game in the fourth when, improbably, Fielder and Geoff Jenkins executed a double steal that mentally handcuffed Betemit, who couldn't decide whether to tag the slow-running Fielder or throw home to get Jenkins.

Jeff Francoeur continued his most recent skid, going 0-for-4 to drop to .184 on the year.